This show was in the small attractive Daniell room at Falmouth Poly on the main street of the town.There was another, rent-paying, selling show downstairs, with one of the two artists on duty. Unfortunately neither show was featured on the Poly website.The organisation is waiting for a new person in charge so publicity will probably improve.
Its difficult to get visitors upstairs and as there was no invigilator when I was there, or the day before when a friend visited, there was no record of numbers, just a few encouraging remarks in a visitors’ book, and also of course no security in case works should be damaged or stolen. One of the artists told me invigilation had been promised and staff downstairs did not realise there was no one there. Staff were vague about if insurance recompense would be paid if work was taken or damaged.
The artists in this show have been along to art sessions provided free by Arts for Health with the idea of being therapeutically helpful for a self selecting group of people who want to go to them. The artists names were not featured and the work not for sale and my contact had not been asked for their views on how it was chosen or exhibited or if they could help invigilate. A private view had taken place.
The names of the arts administrators who provided the courses were displayed but not those of other artists employed by them to give particular sessions.
The result was a nice show of varied work but with no statements by the artists and without their identity it gave them a small taste of recognition perhaps aimed at friends and family and giving the artists a treat, whereas the named administrators stood to gain kudos in the Arts for Health sphere as named individuals.
All these issues are very important and delicate and I feel need to be addressed with the artists in a frank dialogue which is taken seriously so that when they visit they do not feel, as one of them certainly did, that although they had been pleased to be in the exhibition, their work was abandoned rather carelessly in an insecure way, work which is perhaps even more meaningful to these artists than to people who are commercially working to sell images.
Artists names should always accompany their works - unless the participants wish it otherwise.
ReplyDeleteIn this case, names and certain contact details would have been beneficial as, who knows what feedback the contributors have missed - future opportunities too?